Earth Sciences news

Icelandic volcano caused historic famine in Egypt, study says

Nov 21, 2006 | 4.5 / 5 (44) | 0

An environmental drama played out on the world stage in the late 18th century when a volcano killed 9,000 Icelanders and brought a famine to Egypt that reduced the population of the Nile valley by a sixth.

Giant impact near India -- not Mexico -- may have doomed dinosaurs

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 15, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (42) | 15

A mysterious basin off the coast of India could be the largest, multi-ringed impact crater the world has ever seen. And if a new study is right, it may have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs off 65 ...

Antarctic ice shelf disintegrating as result of climate change, say scientists

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Mar 25, 2008 | 3.6 / 5 (55) | 9

Satellite imagery from the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center shows a portion of Antarctica's massive Wilkins Ice Shelf has begun to collapse because of rapid climate change ...

Researcher presents origin-of-life theory for young Earth, supports life on other planets

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Oct 02, 2007 | 4.2 / 5 (47) | 1

Some of the elements necessary to support life on Earth are widely known – oxygen, carbon and water, to name a few. Just as important in the existence of life as any other component is the presence of adenine, an essential ...

Russian scientist predicts global cooling

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Aug 26, 2006 | 3.8 / 5 (51) | 0

A Russian scientist predicts a period of global cooling in coming decades, followed by a warmer interval.

The shore of Deception Island in Antarctica, in 2008

Antarctic ice loss vaster, faster than thought: study

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 22, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (52) | 45

The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.

Arctic summer ice anomaly shocks scientists

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Sep 19, 2006 | 4.5 / 5 (43) | 0

Satellite images acquired from 23 to 25 August 2006 have shown for the first time dramatic openings – over a geographic extent larger than the size of the British Isles – in the Arctic’s perennial sea ice pack ...

Arctic Ice Coverage Between June and mid-August 2008

Arctic ice on the verge of another all-time low

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Aug 28, 2008 | 3.6 / 5 (54) | 123

Following last summer's record minimum ice cover in the Arctic, current observations from ESA's Envisat satellite suggest that the extent of polar sea-ice may again shrink to a level very close to that of ...

Solar evidence points to human causes of climate change

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Feb 19, 2008 | 2.6 / 5 (73) | 12

It’s getting harder and harder to blame the sun for causing the gradual increase in global temperatures that are now being seen in the climate record, scientists said today.

Research finds that Earth's climate is approaching 'dangerous' point

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

May 31, 2007 | 4.1 / 5 (47) | 1

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.

Geobiologists Solve 'Catch-22 Problem' Concerning the Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 29, 2006 | 4.3 / 5 (45) | 0

Two and a half billion years ago, when our evolutionary ancestors were little more than a twinkle in a bacterium's plasma membrane, the process known as photosynthesis suddenly gained the ability to release molecular oxygen ...

Seismolgists get handle on heat flow deep in Earth

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 23, 2006 | 4.6 / 5 (42) | 0

Earth's interior is not a benign world that only stores the geologic history of our planet. Geologists now see the normally assumed placid inner Earth as a dynamic environment filled with exotic materials and ...

Researchers discover unexpected properties of materials in lowermost mantle

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Sep 16, 2008 | 4.5 / 5 (42) | 3

Materials deep inside Earth have unexpected atomic properties that might force earth scientists to revise their models of Earth's internal processes, a team of researchers has discovered.

Astronomers find coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Aug 31, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (42) | 19

The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield ...